Flippin' heck that sucked. Lester had a pretty good outing, handed the game over to the bullpen with a one run lead, and they just didn't have it this afternoon.
Lester made it through six innings on eighty-six pitches. He gave up two runs on five hits but also struck out four. He made it to the fourth inning before he issued a walk (he also gave up a walk in the fifth inning) but neither of those walks proved to be troublesome for him. Both runs he gave up came in the sixth inning. He gave up a single, followed by a double. The next batter grounded out to short and a run came in. He, then, gave up another single that brought in the second Orioles run. He finished the inning strongly, though. He got the last two batters to strike out swinging.
Then came Lopez. Javier actually didn't pitch poorly. He got two quick outs to start the seventh inning but then gave up a hit. They took him out and replaced him with Hansen. Hansen gave up a hit and, then, walked a batter to load the bases. They pulled him and replaced him with Okajima. Okajima gave up a grand slam before getting the last out on a ground out to short. Okajima had a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth inning to end the game.
The offense started off strong again. Ellsbury opened the game with a single and then stole second. Pedroia followed it up with a single of his own (on which Ellsbury scored.)
And then came the double plays. Ortiz grounded into a double play in the first. Pedroia grounded into a double play in the third. Lowell grounded into one in the fourth. And then Youkilis grounded into one in the ninth. I suppose that's one way to stop leaving men on base but I'm fairly certain that it would be preferable to push them across the plate instead.
The other two Red Sox runs came off home runs. Varitek had a home run in the fifth inning and Lowell had one in the sixth.
No comments:
Post a Comment